Chapter 32: A Night of Truths and Lies
A flight through the morning skies of Tethe'alla took the group back to the icy continent of Flanoir, where they proceeded to head for the lone city on the northeast part of it. As they went there, the sky started to be blanketed by a thick grey fog along with a series of beautiful pale snowflakes, which provided a little obstruction to their vision since they had the lights in the city to guide them to the ground.
Once they all landed their Rheairds, it was Zelos who immediately glanced to make sure the others weren't watching him before he sprinted off towards Flanoir without warning. Lloyd and the others headed up the stairs into the city, where they find a series of buildings with rooftops covered in snow and trees with leaves of white. The people were dressed in warmer attire, as expected, but thankfully everyone in the group had the means to keep themselves warm save for their faces.
With a chattering of his teeth, Lloyd looked around and commented "W-W-Well, it's nice to f-f-finally see Flanoir…" It was at that point Riku chose to increase the heat of the air around the group to keep them warm, but it was subtle enough that no one really pointed it back to him and assumed that their bodies were adjusting to the weather. Lloyd let out a relived sigh and then notices the lack of Zelos amongst them and asked "Hmm? Where's Zelos?"
Sheena lets out an angered groan before saying "What's wrong with him? Why is he wandering off at a time like this?!" Lloyd scratches the back of his head and comments "We'll find him later, right now we need to find this doctor. By the way Sheena, why did we need to come all the way out here to find one?"
"Well, if you wanted just any doctor regardless of skill, there's plenty available. But considering Altessa's condition, there's only a few who could save him." Sheena explains, and Regal is then quick to point out "There's no reason to discuss this now. Altessa will die if we do not hurry."
With a nod of his head Lloyd says "Yeah, I know. Lead the way Sheena." With that the group headed east of the city entrance with Sheena's guidance, leading to them eventually running across Zelos standing in front of a two-story building labeled as a hospital. He was murmuring to himself about a stone called the "Aionis" and something called "the ring of the pact". From far away, no one heard him clearly.
"Zelos! There you are! Why are you mumbling to yourself?" Lloyd accusingly says towards the man, which causes him to suddenly turn around and says in his usual tone of nonchalance "What? Lloyd, you're late." With a smile on his face he gestures towards the hospital, making it seem like Lloyd and the others were the ones wandering around without a care.
"Come on, hurry up." Zelos says smoothly, and after Lloyd crumples his face into an annoyed expression and sighs he and Sheena head into the hospital in search of the doctor. The job was rather easy, as the silver haired man with glasses and a close-eyed expression stood in front of a fireplace not far from the entrance. Sheena grabbed his attention with an exclamation of "Doctor!"
The man then turned to face the two and politely says "Oh, my, if it isn't Sheena. It's been a while. How is everyone in Mizuho?" Sheena doesn't answer that as she urgently brings up "It's an emergency! We have someone who's about to die!" The doctor's lips curl into a concerned frown as he replies with "Oh, my, it sounds like things aren't quiet and peaceful."
"Stop standing there chatting and hurry up and get ready to go!" Lloyd, in a rather rude and impatient tone of voice, causes the doctor to ponder things for a few moments before mentioning "…It'll cost you." Lloyd furiously replies "How can you talk about money at a time like this?!"
"I'm not running my business as a charity." The doctor calmly points out, but with his current emotional state Lloyd bitterly says "You…" While clenching his fists near his swords. Before he can make a commotion out of things though, Sheena says "We'll pay anything! So please, hurry…"
Lloyd glances at Sheena in disbelief before saying to the doctor "You're taking advantage of people when they're in need! Fine, we'll give you as much as you like! How much do you want?!" Even with how rude his client was acting, the doctor kept being professional by mentioning "Let's make it payment upon success. First, I need to see the patient. Travel expenses and hazard pay will be billed separately. "
"Fine! Whatever!" Lloyd says, and the doctor nudges his glasses up before commenting "Also, I will be needing at least four people to act as an escort. It will be up to you to decide who would be proper candidates." With this suggestion given to him, Lloyd turns around and angrily grumbles to himself as he and Sheena leave the hospital for now.
Once he's reunited with the rest of the group, Lloyd is asked by Colette "So how did it-" Lloyd bluntly interrupts her with "The doctor is an avaricious asshole! …But he's going to do the job." Colette was surprised by her friend's angered reply, and after taking a moment to clam down Lloyd swiftly apologizes with "…Sorry Colette, I didn't mean to snap at you."
"Anyways, he wants four people to act as an escort. I guess he must be worried about something." Sheena explains, and immediately afterwards Presea raises her hand and comments "I will go…I owe Altessa far too much to leave him there."
"I-In that case, I'll go too!" Genis enthusiastically exclaims, though one could tell it was a mixture of Presea's involvement and him wanting to avoid speaking about what happened last night that made him decide this. "As will I." Regal offers with ease.
"Well, I guess I'll go as well. If we get ambushed by Cruxis, at least I can use the Summon Spirits to help even the odds." With Sheena's suggestion, the group had decided upon four people to escort the doctor back to Altessa's house. As Sheena went to get him, Regal said to Lloyd "By the way, it would probably be for the best if we allowed the doctor to ride one of the Rheairds on his own. Do you mind if we take yours, Lloyd?"
"Not at all, just make sure he doesn't crash it." Lloyd comments. Once Sheena and the doctor were outside the hospital, the four escorts take him back to the Rheairds and leave for the air while being observed by the others. Riku folded his arms against his chest and looked at those who remained while thinking to himself "Lloyd, Colette, Raine, and Zelos…I wonder what will happen tonight?"
Lloyd stretches his arms above his head and lets out a tired sigh, saying to Colette a moment later "…I guess while we're here, we might as well take a look around, right?" Colette cheerfully nods her head and replies with "Sure thing Lloyd! It'll be nice to check this place out now that I'm cured…"
"Alright Professor, we'll see you, Zelos and Riku later at the hotel." Lloyd says, and Raine comments "Whatever you do Lloyd, don't catch a cold, the last thing we need is for you to get sick when the doctor is missing." Lloyd narrows his eyelids in annoyance and says "Professor, I'm not a kid, I know not to get a cold." Lloyd and Colette then run off to check out Flanoir, while Zelos chuckles at the banter between him and Raine.
"Hehehe, yeah…I'm gonna agree with Lloyd here. Nothing for us to do except hang around and wait for Sheena and the others to return. If you don't mind, I'm just going to head north and see what type of fun I can find~" Zelos explains his plans and runs off, leaving Raine and Riku by themselves near the entrance to Flanoir.
"…Riku, I would like you to meet me by the hospital later on." Raine says calmly as she folds her arms against her chest. The teenage Overlord blinks at her in a puzzled manner and says "Sure thing Raine, but why?"
"I need to discuss something important with you alone…In the mean time, I shall seek out the town's library and spend some time reading." Raine then walks off, leaving Riku bewildered as to what the Professor wanted from him. Now that he was alone in the snow-filled city of Flanoir, the teenage Overlord honestly had no idea as to what he would do for the next few hours.
"Hmmm, I'm not going to find out who Lloyd talks to tonight until he's by himself, but I don't know what I can do in the mean time…Guess I can just find a spot to lay back and just wait for Lloyd to go out on his own with someone other than Colette, or wait for Raine to show up near the hospital." Though Riku found either option boring, he did admit that the events of last night with Mithos had tired him out greatly, so a little rest wouldn't hurt him in the slightest.
Walking through Flanoir towards a lone snow-covered bench, Riku brushes the snow off with his right hand to avoid drawing attention to his powers and then lays back on it, folding his hands behind his head and thinking to himself as he looks up at the beautiful snowy sky "It's such a shame Yuan and Botta weren't successful in killing Mithos then and there…Knowing what might happen next, it would've saved everyone so much grief."
Slanting his eyebrows in a melancholy manner, Riku then murmurs out "Will Zelos betray us for Cruxis…Or not?" With this thoughts worrying him, it took a while for him to drift off for a nap, but once he did he went for a few hours before waking up and letting out a tired yawn. By the time he woke up he glanced to the right and noticed a few people staring at him in a puzzled manner.
Turns out he had forgotten to decrease the temperature around him back to normal, and now he had ended up melting away the snow around the bench by complete accident. He awkwardly stands up and walks away from the scene while dropping his warm aura, but as he moves through Flanoir he recognizes that the weather has gotten colder since he had last moved about. The sky was also darker than before, giving it a jet black coloring.
"Hmmm…Slept longer than I thought I would…Darn, hope I didn't miss Raine." Riku quickly runs for the hospital to meet up with the Professor, but before he does so he happens to look towards the upper parts of Flanoir close to the church. Near a stone perch looking over the city, Riku could see the shadow of Lloyd amidst the snow. He was speaking to someone else, but because of the snow it was really hard to make out the person's identity based only on the silhouette.
All the teenage Overlord could see as that the person had a sword beside their hip. "That means it could be either Kratos or Zelos…I know I was supposed to meet Raine here, but I need to find out just who it is first." Riku quietly says to himself, but before he can move towards the perch he's called out to by Raine "Ah, so you did decide to show up, Riku."
The teenage Overlord turns around and sees Raine approaching him slowly and cautiously. With a few puzzled blinks Riku asks "Were you waiting around for long?" Raine shakes her head and answers with "No…As a matter of fact, I just got here. While not as good as Sybak's or Meltokio's, Flanoir's library had some rather interesting information about how Celsius' seal affects not just the climate here, but Tethe'alla as a whole."
Raine stops seven feet away from Riku, being far enough for the two of them to see each other clearly, and then she looks up towards the sky and says "White snow with a jet black sky…It's quite a beautiful sight, isn't it?" The teenage Overlord replies "Yeah, I've been to a couple icy environments on other worlds, but none has ever been as beautiful as this."
"Yes, you have been to other worlds, haven't you? I have to ask you something regarding that, actually." Raine looks at Riku, and as the two share a glance she asks "Back when we first met, you told us right away that you are the Elemental Overlord and didn't have a problem letting us know that you are from other worlds. Have you ever done that for the inhabitants of the other worlds?"
"Yeah. I never want potential allies to suspect me of being their enemies. Upfront honesty helps more than lying." Riku replies, and Raine says to herself "Hmm, is that so?" before proceeding to ask "Then Riku, I want you to say something else…Why have you been lying to us so much?"
The teenage Overlord visibly twitches when Raine mentions this, and immediately goes on to reply with "Raine, I have been nothing but honest with all of you." The half-elf lowers her eyelids and stares down in a rather disappointed manner before saying to the boy "…How can you possibly look me straight in the eyes and say that?"
"…What? Raine, I'm serious, I have not lied to you-" Before Riku can finish his sentence, Raine looks straight at him and angrily says "Then how do you explain your knowledge of the Sylvarant Summon Spirits when Sybak has no books referencing them?!"
The teenage Overlord's attempt to keep the truth hidden from Raine was starting to crumble, he recognized this as his face visibly broke the masquerade of tranquility he was trying to keep and distorted into a look of blatant shock. He then glances at the ground to the left of him and says "…What made you question that?"
"Many things Riku…You may not think it, but you left behind far too many hints that you knew more about Tethe'alla and Sylvarant than a newcomer to this world should have the right to know. In fact…You also seemed to know how to get us out of Derris-Kharlan rather easily considering the amount of time you had before we escaped those jail cells." Raine explains, and then glances up and says to him firmly "I am offering you a chance here Riku. Tell me how you know all these things…"
Laying out her desires before him, Raine folds her arms against her chest and looks rather expectedly at the teenage Overlord, who merely hangs his head and admits with a solemn look in his eyes "…Raine, that's just not possible. There's some thing in the wor-no, the universe, that people are better off not knowing." The half-elf glances at him and replies with "That's your reasoning? That you think none of us would be able to understand? After how we reacted to you being from another world, you think we can't handle anything more?"
"…That's different and you know it Raine." Riku says without further elaboration, which causes Raine to angrily ask "How?! How is it different?! I'm your ally, your friend…So why can't you just tell me the truth…?" As the half-elf hung her head low, the teenage Overlord felt an ache in his heart brought on by holding back the truth from Raine, who really deserved better than to be lied to.
"…Within the realm of your world, where a floating comet of mana is suspended over a divided planet, I figured that revealing that I came from another world would not lead to much panic from you or the others. But the reason as to why I know about so much of this world requires me to explain things that would make you re-evaluate what you know about reality…Right now, when we're so close to stopping Mithos and saving both worlds, none of us can afford to know the truth I hold." Riku calmly explains himself to Raine.
When he's done, Raine says in response to that "…I can accept that for now, under one condition." The teenage Overlord glances at the half-elf and says to her "What now, Raine?"
"Please…Tell me something that Cruxis would have no reason to know anything about." Raine gives her ultimatum to the teenage Overlord, which naturally confuses him as he responds with a stuttering "W-What? Don't tell me you suspect me of being a traitor?"
"…At first, I really didn't want to consider the possibility when Zelos accused you in Welgaia, but now that you've confirmed some of my suspicions I can only bring myself to wonder. I'm willing to risk my life here for the slight chance that I am wrong to accuse you of being a part of Cruxis while merely playing the hero to trick us all…" Raine explains herself while hanging her head slightly and putting on a saddened expression.
The teenage Overlord, in response to this honesty, took a few moments to think about just what he could say to Raine that would convince her that he was not a member of Cruxis. Ousting Zelos as a traitor would have been an interesting idea had Raine's words not suggested that she suspected him of fighting against other members of Cruxis to keep up the masquerade. So instead of that, Riku figured out one bit of information that would surely convince Raine, but there was a bit of hesitation in his thoughts as he prepared to let it slip through his mouth…
With a firm stare towards Raine, Riku said to her "Your mother, Virginia Sage, is still alive. She lives on the floating city of Exire somewhere in Tethe'alla. That is all I can tell you…" Upon hearing her mother's name, Raine goes into a state of disbelieving shock, her eyes widening to a size that Riku had never seen her go before. She stumbled back a bit and held her hands up while stuttering out "M-My mother's alive? No…There's no way…H-How? How could you possibly know that…"
The teenage Overlord expected such a frightened response from Raine, but to hear her sound so broken-hearted over this information was hard for him to bear. He grimaced and turned his head to the right while saying "Raine…I honestly don't know what else to say to you now…" The half-elf tries to compose herself and says bluntly to the boy "You knew my mother was alive this whole time…didn't you? …I honestly can't believe it. I was a fool to think for even a second that even with those god-like powers, you were a humble, respectable human being…In the end you are no better than Kratos and Yuan."
This remark makes Riku flinch backwards in shock, but as he says to Raine "Raine, wait, don't go saying-" the half-elf suddenly sprints right past him with a couple visible tears trickling down her cheeks. In the process, she ends up running past Colette, who was walking around by herself for some odd reason. "P-Professor?" Colette tries to get Raine's attention, but to no avail.
She then turns to face Riku and asks him "Riku, what's wrong with the Professor? She seemed so sad…" The teenage Overlord turned around and looked at Colette, saying to her quietly as the sorrow of Raine's departure left him feeling terrible "Oh…Hey Colette. Didn't hear you approaching, guess the snow had a lot to do with that. Umm, Raine and I were having a conversation about something private, and then she just ran off."
Colette tilted her head and said to herself "Ran off?" In her naivety, she ends up getting the wrong idea about the whole matter and with a furious expression she gets closer to Riku before saying to him "Riku, you didn't hurt the Professor's feelings, did you?!"
The teenage Overlord glances awkwardly to the left and says "W-Well, not intentionally, no…" He couldn't exactly tell Colette what happened during their conversation, after all. To get Colette away from this issue, Riku quickly looked at her and pointed out "Hey wait a minute, what are you doing wandering about? Isn't it time to sleep?"
Colette eased up on her anger and awkwardly blinked a couple of times before stepping away from Riku and saying with her tongue slightly stuck out "Hehehe, oops…I've been caught." The teenage Overlord folds his arms against his chest and looks at the girl with a curious glare, and then she puts her face back to normal and explains "I was about to go sleep, really, I was…But then I couldn't find Lloyd in his hotel room and decided to try and see where he went off to. I-I haven't had any luck so far…"
Colette then perks up and asks Riku "Oh! Have you seen him at all?" The teenage Overlord makes a subtle glance towards the rocky perch where he saw Lloyd before, and he still seemed to be talking to same guy as before…However, something looked off about their mannerisms compared to what he saw briefly. Riku looks back at Colette and says to her "Sorry, I have no idea where he's at."
"Awww…" Colette hangs her head down slightly out of disappointment, which leads Riku to ask her out of curiosity "Say Colette, any particular reason you want to find Lloyd?" Colette perks back up again with a slight blush on her face, saying to Riku "N-Not at all…Well I mean, I-I'm worried about him getting lost in the snow, but that's it."
With a harmless grin, Riku gestures at the girl with his right pointer finger and says "Liar. I can tell you're up to something with Lloyd. If you don't want to tell me what it is exactly that's fine, but you aren't pulling the wool over my eyes with your intentions, Colette." With Riku's deduction, Colette felt that she could cast away some of her nervousness as she reached into her shirt and pulled out an innocent little bunny charm with skin of pure white and eyes of glistening blue. It also had a neat little yellow ribbon tied around the neck.
"Oh? A charm?" Riku says in an intrigued tone of voice as a bright smile creeps across his face. Colette nods her head and merrily explains "While Lloyd and I were traveling through Flanoir, I found a shop that sold charms that are meant to bring good luck to those who carry them. Hehe, I decided to wait until after Lloyd went to get us hotel rooms before I bought this Flanoir snow bunny for him, but now I can't give it to him because we're both lost in the snow…"
"Well if it's as good of a luck charm as they say it is, you'll find Lloyd sooner or later." Riku kindly says, and Colette nods her head in agreement before mentioning "You know, we haven't really talked much, have we Riku?"
"Not at all. Of course, between you getting kidnapped and everything else that's happened, I haven't really gotten to just relax and talk with many of you guys." Riku replies with, and with a smile on her face Colette merrily suggested "I know! How about we talk to each other while we go find Lloyd?"
"H-Huh? Yeah, I guess we could do that…" Riku nervously says, and after putting the snow bunny away Colette folds her hands behind herself and turns around gracefully while saying "Alright! Let's go find Lloyd!"
Colette and Riku slowly start to walk through Flanoir afterwards, with the teenage Overlord starting the conversation off as he turns his head to make sure that Lloyd is still standing in the same spot "So how are you feeling now that your illness is cured? Colette happily says to him as she looks around "I'm feeling great! It's so wonderful to not have to worry about that anymore."
"Lloyd has been doing everything he can to make sure you don't have to suffer anymore. Ever since your journey began, in fact." Riku comments, and Colette calmly replies "…Hehe, yeah. I've been such a burden for him, and everyone else." The teenage Overlord could only imagine the saddened look on the Chosen's face.
"…Colette, is that the only regret you've had throughout your journey?" Riku asks, and after turning around and walking backwards with a smile on her face the girl replies cheerfully "Of course it is…I will never regret the rest of the journey we had. All the wonderful places we went to, the people we met, the people we saved…I don't regret any of it. Sheena, Zelos, Presea, Regal, Altessa, Tabitha…Even Kratos and Yuan, all of them are my precious friends."
Though Colette's tone was naïve in nature, there was some underlying sense of maturity that came from her ability to forgive Yuan and Kratos, though it was interesting that she didn't mention Mithos at all. "…Heh, I wonder how Yuan would react to that. Colette, if more people in this world were as accepting of others as you and Lloyd, then it'd be a much better place, don't you agree?" Riku says.
Colette nods her head with a brimming smile on her face, following up by mentioning "We'll have to do our best to fix this world, but we can't force people to change like Mithos is trying to do with his age of lifeless beings…" Riku says "Right…People have to change on their own. That's why we were given free will, after all."
"Yeah, we'll just have to see what will happen when-W-Whoa!" Before Colette finishes her sentence, she ends up starting to trip backwards upon catching her heels on a snow-covered step. Riku quickly steps forward and grabs her right hand to prevent catch her before she falls onto her back, using his strength to get her standing up before her legs give way.
Colette chuckles nervously to herself, letting out a quiet "Oops…Hehe, I'm so clumsy." Riku folds his arms against his chest and comments in response "Some would call that an endearing trait. But honestly, you should try and not walk backwards in an area covered with snow."
"Hehe, I'll try…" Colette says, and once she's done with that she turns to the left and happens to notice Lloyd standing by himself near a stone perch. "Oh! There he is!" The Chosen enthusiastically proclaims, but before she runs off to meet him Riku says to her "Wait a second Colette."
She stops and turns to face him with a puzzled blink of her eyes, and Riku said to her as he half-heartedly smiled "'I will never regret the rest of the journey we had'…Thank you for saying that to me." Colette nodded her head and stated "Of course! Thank you for helping me find Lloyd, Riku…Well, good night!" The Chosen then runs off to catch Lloyd, and the teenage Overlord stood there by himself for a couple moments before walking to the hotel.
Once there, he retreated to the room that Lloyd had gotten for him, where he spent a good few minutes wondering if he should try and speak to Raine again before deciding against it upon recognizing that she likely wouldn't want anything to do with him. With that, the teenage Overlord lied back on his bed and decided to sleep once more, knowing that the next day would be a very difficult one for everyone involved.
Morning eventually arrived, and Riku ended up being the first to head outside to wait for the others to show up. The ones who escorted the doctor to Altessa's place came back first, followed by those who spent the night at the hotel exiting one after the other. When Raine emerges, she glances bitterly at Riku for a moment, which causes the teenage Overlord to hang his head for a few seconds before anyone else can notice him. Once Lloyd came out of the hotel, he immediately noticed that everyone had gathered there and asked of the escorts "Guys! How's Altessa?!"
Regal explains "We left the doctor there just in case, but it seems that he's for the moment. People from Mizuho are tending to him as well." And with a relieved nod of his head Lloyd says to the group "Ok, I need to speak with everyone." The group directs their attention firmly towards Lloyd, who had a rather confident glow around his body the likes of which was never seen before. "The world is never going to change if we just wait for Cruxis to make the next move, right? So this time, we're going to strike them first." He says, pumping his fist into the air beside himself once he was done with it all.
Zelos clapped his hands together once and exclaims "Well, so you're finally ready to do it! We're gonna raid Cruxis!" Lloyd nods his head and says "Yeah. I have two objectives: Prevent the establishment of Mithos' new Age…and release Origin."
"But if you release Origin, what about Kratos?" Genis inquires, which causes Lloyd to pause and think about his answer for a moment before he admitted "…I don't really know yet. We don't know for certain that he'll actually die. We also don't know if he'll side with us or not. We don't have the time to worry about things we're not sure of."
Folding her arms against her chest, Raine asks "What do you intend to do about the Eternal Sword? Even if you break Origin's seal, you can't wield it, remember? And I doubt either Genis or I would be able to handle a sword…" It was at that point that Zelos surprised everyone by selflessly mentioning "Don't worry about that. I've got it covered!"
Lloyd blinks a few times before he stares in disbelief at Zelos and asks "What are you talking about?" Zelos confidently smirks and replies "Why do you think I can use magic swords? I received magic injections with the latest in Tethe'alla technology. In other words, I'm a human with elven blood in me. That should work, right?"
"…Then I guess this will be the final battle." Raine had some suspicions regarding Zelos' explanation, but decided to accept it as fact for the time being. With everyone letting loose their intentions to try their best, Lloyd turned to face Colette and politely said to her "Colette, I need you to stay behind." The group was shocked by Lloyd's request, Colette more than the rest of them, in fact. "…Why?" She asked.
"They want you as Martel's vessel. We'll have either Mizuho or the Renegades protect you." Lloyd explains himself, and at first Colette submissively glances down and says "If…that's what you want…" But then she defiantly glares at her best friend and exclaims "No! I'm going too!" Lloyd is thrown off-guard by this, and Zelos chuckles and says "Heh, I get it. You don't think you can protect her. That's so sad…"
"Wh…What did you say?" Lloyd glares furiously at Zelos, and in turn Zelos ignores him and faces Colette while kneeling and saying in a rather knightly manner "Don't worry, Colette! I, the great Zelos, swear to protect you!" His intention to tick Lloyd off succeeded, as he was about ready to clench his fist and punch Zelos upside the head before Zelos glanced at him and revealed his ulterior motives "Take her along, Lloyd. They're gonna be after her no matter where she is. You ought to know that by now. Be a man, show her what you're made of!"
As Zelos rises back onto his feet, Sheena has a blank look on her face as she admits to Lloyd "Wow, we actually have the same opinion for once. Sorry, Lloyd, but I agree with Zelos here." Lloyd lets out a reluctant sigh before giving up on his previous plans and saying "All right Colette, sorry I tried to keep you away…I guess in the end, we should finish this journey of ours together."
"Thank you Lloyd…And the rest of you as well." Colette politely says to everyone, and with all preparations finished amongst the group they began to depart from Flanoir. Before they made it to the Rheairds, Zelos had something else to say to Lloyd, but upon realizing something crucial was to be said between them Riku turned around to try and overhear it only to be too late as Lloyd begins to walk down the staircase with Zelos following behind a few seconds later.
Riku hangs around at the middle of the staircase long enough for him to catch Zelos. He holds his arm out to stop the man as he can be seen whistling with arms held behind his head, and Zelos turns to look at the rather serious expression on the teenage Overlord's face before saying "Hey hey, what's up with the attitude, Riku? Shouldn't you be happy that we're gonna go stop Cruxis?"
With a firm eyed glare, the teenage Overlord told Zelos straight up "Whatever you have in mind Zelos, you better reconsider it now. Lloyd trusts you to help out in this final battle." Zelos says to him in response "Oh, he trusts me, does he? Well, then I'd better not let him down now, should I?" Riku's glare increases in intensity upon hearing this, and in turn Zelos shows off a rather intriguing grin before he replies "Relax, relax…I'm just kidding around here. Trust me Riku, everything is going to be ok."
The teenage Overlord eases up on Zelos and says to him nonchalantly "Really now? You're giving me your word on this one?" Zelos grins and says "Oh yeah! Just wait and see, you'll be in for quite the surprise once we get back to the Tower of Salvation!" He then continues going down the staircase, putting on a more serious expression as Riku glares down at him and thinks "…Zelos, if you betray us, then regardless of the circumstances…I won't hesitate to kill you myself." With his ultimatum given via his thoughts, Riku ran to catch the others before they all took off from Flanoir, where one last trip to the Tower of Salvation awaited them all…
Next Time: Farewell, My Friend